[Politics] Technocracy is not a good idea.

[Nihilist74]

You need spiritual people around with a sense of right and wrong.

Otherwise the technocrats would be culling anyone with an appendectomy in order to breed appendicitis out of the population.

Yah spiritual people have never done anything evil.

[Theodarzna]

I am not justifying a God complex. I am saying that not all people that have money are out for only themselves. The organization exists to help people with the money Bill Gates made... that in itself is commendable. That he also happens to be a bit of an knowitall is a fault he has to work out. Note that he is just a computer scientist, not an educator...

I believe people have an incredible ability for self-deception. If you today were to tell your life story would you be the hero or the villain in that story? How many lovers cheat and when found out can craft any justification under the sun to explain it away? Nobody sees themselves as a villain in their own story. I don't believe any of these people BELIEVE they are just out for themselves, but humans are very self deceiving.

To sum up, my life. I have given my life (in pursuit of education, and work) in furthering the future I envision. As have most people in Silicon Valley. I have worked long overtime (stayed up till the next day), etc, all in supporting the projects I believe in.

As for who will pay? I am. I, we (as in the Silicon Valley/CA professionals) have been paying with long hours, missed time with family, vacation, etc, etc, to make what the world is today.

You say you play Skyrim, it took 4 years to make that game. Someone had to create the art, music, models, zones, etc... that someone was a group of ~ 100 people.

Now the pattern you may not see? For that game to work well new CPU's and GPU's (from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA) were also created, which people also bought. All of that is pushing our R&D further and further. And so without you even knowing you yourself are part of the progress, in your own way.

Well you said earlier that "there are winners and losers," what becomes of the losers in your grand vision for the future?

[Berengil]

I'd prefer a pure intellectual meritocracy. Basically, only people with genius level intellect are allowed to vote or stand for office. While at the same time those who do not qualify for office or voting have their basic rights protected by law.

[Yvaelle]

I believe people have an incredible ability for self-deception. If you today were to tell your life story would you be the hero or the villain in that story? How many lovers cheat and when found out can craft any justification under the sun to explain it away? Nobody sees themselves as a villain in their own story. I don't believe any of these people BELIEVE they are just out for themselves, but humans are very self deceiving.

That's more a commentary on the fault of the idea of villains.

In the real world, there aren't villains (in the literary sense). Each person, in each moment, does what they think is best/right - for the people they care about.

Sometimes, the people they care about is a very small circle (for sociopaths, it's just themselves) - but most, it's at least a tribal group of their family and friends. For some, it's their nation, for others - the world. Regardless of the size of the population that you care about, few-to-none of us are actively 'evil' - the world has no true villains.

What we have, is a sometimes-as-terrible combination of people who either
a) 'try to do the right thing', albeit for a very small group. Example: Bigots. They want what is best for the people they relate to, they don't care how it impacts (or actively want it to negatively impact!) people that don't look / sound / think like them.
Or,
b) people who 'try to do the right thing' for a much broader group (ex. a nation) - but do so based on bad information, or bad logic - and come to an unexpected (bad) conclusion. Example: Right-wing Economists. They think they are helping, but it's because their information is shit.

~Nobody is a villain of their own story, because we are each trying to do right by somebody - whether that's ourselves, or our families, or our planet, etc. Sometimes, that makes us the villain in another persons story.

That's why reality diverges from faerie tales. We have the benefit of seeing the heroes side of the story, who their villains were - but not their villains perspective.

Maleficient, in her own mind, wasn't a villain.

[Theodarzna]

That's more a commentary on the fault of the idea of villains.

In the real world, there aren't villains (in the literary sense). Each person, in each moment, does what they think is best/right - for the people they care about.

Sometimes, the people they care about is a very small circle (for sociopaths, it's just themselves) - but most, it's at least a tribal group of their family and friends. For some, it's their nation, for others - the world. Regardless of the size of the population that you care about, few-to-none of us are actively 'evil' - the world has no true villains.

What we have, is a sometimes-as-terrible combination of people who either
a) 'try to do the right thing', albeit for a very small group. Example: Bigots. They want what is best for the people they relate to, they don't care how it impacts (or actively want it to negatively impact!) people that don't look / sound / think like them.
Or,
b) people who 'try to do the right thing' for a much broader group (ex. a nation) - but do so based on bad information, or bad logic - and come to an unexpected (bad) conclusion. Example: Right-wing Economists. They think they are helping, but it's because their information is shit.

~Nobody is a villain of their own story, because we are each trying to do right by somebody - whether that's ourselves, or our families, or our planet, etc. Sometimes, that makes us the villain in another persons story.

That's why reality diverges from faerie tales. We have the benefit of seeing the heroes side of the story, who their villains were - but not their villains perspective.

Maleficient, in her own mind, wasn't a villain.

Powerfully written, I unfortunately cannot say anything against this, especially maleficient.